Name: Kevin LePage
Major: Canfield BHP, Management Information Systems
Company: EY
Position: Launch Intern
Topics of Interest: Camping & Hammocking, Mac & Cheese, San Antonio Spurs, Technology, Nonprofits
We start the New Year with a profile on a familiar face throughout the Canfield BHP community. He’s an outstanding young man and we’re proud to have him around. We’re talking about Kevin LePage, of course. After his sophomore year, Kevin spent some time working at an internship with Ernst and Young. While catching up with him, we also spoke about the endeavors he’s currently involved in outside of his internship.
Kevin talks to us about EY’s Launch Internship, which is open to qualified students two years or more from graduation and provides interns the chance to work with professionals across different service lines. Experiential training is a big draw for this internship opportunity because it allows interns to gain enough knowledge and experience to make an informed career decision while receiving the support they need every step of the way.
Kevin and fellow EY interns.
Kevin felt the interview process for the Launch Internship was “a really good experience” overall. While tasked with other duties, Kevin rotated between auditing and forensic accounting responsibilities. This was special in his opinion because he gained exposure to different aspects of EY’s business.
“I got a lot of help and asked a ton of questions throughout the process. I was placed on an audit team with a big billion-dollar public company and it was exciting to be able to be in the room. When I was with the forensics team, another intern and I got to delve into specific invoices to figure out if we could find any fraud. I can’t speak too much about it as it’s confidential information but it was interesting and tedious.”
We asked Kevin if he planned on pursuing a career in forensic accounting before his internship with EY. “At the time I was, but I used the internship to gauge whether or not I wanted to do accounting or pursue a forensic accounting role. I think it’s a great way for students to get involved early on and use the internship to try to figure out where you want to go.”
“I was trying to figure out what was going to be important to me. Going through my college development, I was trying to figure out what career I wanted. ” Kevin ultimately realized forensic accounting wasn’t his passion. “The day to day tasks involved a lot of spreadsheets and trying to figure things out along with the team. I loved the client interaction and working with a team of highly capable individuals but the specific work just wasn’t for me. Now, I’ve pivoted my way towards MIS and looking at that route. I wouldn’t trade my internship with EY for anything.”
Asked about what he felt he could’ve improved on while at EY, Kevin explained that he would’ve enjoyed experiencing more of the camaraderie felt by spending more time with the other interns. His forty-five-minute commute from home, among other things, made it difficult to participate in off-work activities with his fellow interns.
However, with a sharp focus and his eye on the ball, Kevin felt he did a great job staying busy and asking his supervisors for additional work that he could perform to help them out. “What I think I did well was pester my supervisors or anyone around me for additional work, anything that I could do to help them out. I kept myself busy and kept asking questions to make sure I was doing the work right. That’s the one thing I didn’t want to do wrong.”
If you want to prepare for an internship with EY, Kevin recommends getting connected with companies early on. “Try to get connected with companies earlier. That’s not to say, as a freshman, try to get a job immediately because as a freshman you can’t, but go to an info session or try a leadership development program. Those are super helpful in developing relationships and connections with the company.”
Kevin and fellow Canfield BHPeers at the 2019 Leadership Kickoff Event in New Braunfels.
Like many of our Canfield BHP students, Kevin is involved in student organizations that allow him to fill his time with other things he’s passionate about. In addition to his internships, Kevin has been involved with The Exponentialists, a student-led nonprofit which seeks to empower young people in low-resource communities to achieve exponential success through entrepreneurship. Kevin is their proud Podcast Director and coordinates their weekly podcasts – currently on Season Two. Kevin is also a member of the Texas Blazers as well as a Canfield BHP Peer Mentor who has taken a group of ten freshmen under his wing in their first semester of college. He enjoys answering questions while providing solid advice to his fellow CBHPeers.